In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

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DEVAL CORPORATION @ Above: Early DeVal (CARCO) after start up in late 1950s. Below: Early expansion at DeVal in the early 1960s. DeVal Corporation, a Philadelphia company, is a manufacturer responsible for the efficiency and reliability of vital armament weapons support equipment aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and various land bases throughout the world. DeVal Corporation, a prime contractor for the Defense Department, manufactures and remanufactures certified weapons loading equipment for the Navy, Marine Corps and, to a lesser extent, the Air Force. In addition, various large defense companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and AUSTAL Ship Building are also long term customers. DeVal Corporation produces weapons handling equipment such as transporters, loaders and adaptors used by the military to load bombs and missiles. The various products manufactured by DeVal ensure that weapons may be moved safely from the holding areas and the magazine area, and then transported to the aircraft and loaded onto the various aircraft. DeVal has grown from a small one-or-two man garage-type operation to today’s modern, sophisticated AS9100C certified manufacturing facility. The company was started December 8, 1954, by Navy Veteran Charles A. ‘Chick’ Russo as a small, all-purpose machine shop. Russo died relatively young, but the business was carried on by two of his sons. Under their direction, the company began to expand. The company’s first growth came about when the company obtained substantial subcontracts from Yale & Towne for machined parts and forgings for their forklifts. In the 1960s the firm began supplying parts to Chrysler Tank Division for machined parts involving weldments such as the Turret Platforms for tanks, which were formed and welded at DeVal, DeLaval Turbine (large machined rings), and Westinghouse Electric for centrifugal castings, to mention but a few. In the beginning, the company name was CARCO Industries, derived from the founder Charles A. Russo’s initials—CARCO. As the company continued to diversify, the name was changed April 12, 1962, to DeVal IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBERTY 110
Aerodynamics. The name DeVal was a tribute to the Delaware Valley, the company’s home base. The company officially became DeVal Corporation in approximately 1965. As DeVal Corporation expanded its list of support equipment manufactured for the government, it was able to obtain a contract in 1969 to provide support equipment to Israel for various adapters. DeVal received a visit from Moshe Dayan, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Golda Meir. It was a very exciting event; unfortunately, Chick passed away in 1966 and was not present to experience the fruits of his labor. In the mid-1960s, Dominic Durinzi, Jr., and Ronald Penska began working at DeVal part-time while in high school and college. They joined the company full-time after graduation and, in 1989, they purchased the company from Frank Russo. Durinzi, a 1974 graduate of Penn State University, serves as company president. He joined the company full-time following college, starting as Director of Engineering. He was promoted to Director of Quality Control and Engineering in 1980 and became Director of Contracts and Marketing prior to the purchase of the company. Penska joined the company after earning his B.A. degree from West Chester University in 1970. After working several years in the Engineering Department, he became General Manager of the Purchasing Department in 1981. Penska serves as Vice President of DeVal Corporation and oversees plant operations on a daily basis. In 1980, DeVal began remanufacturing Navy support equipment. This segment of the business continued to grow and a major breakthrough came in 1981 when DeVal secured a remanufacturing contract for all the weapons-related equipment aboard Navy aircraft carriers. “We remanufactured anything that involved armament, including all weapons supports systems. There were probably fifty different items,” comments Durinzi. @ The Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, seen here with an array of missiles, bomb ordnance and ammunition. It was used for many years by the United States Navy as an interceptor, air superiority, and multirole combat aircraft. PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA 111
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IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBER
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IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBER
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CONTENTS 4 FOREWORD 6 ACKNOWLEDGEME
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@ Michael A. Nutter, Former Mayor,
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For the historical images that enli
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This is a history of manufacturing
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While other manufacturing centers w
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@ Above: Workers at Midvale Steel p
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aircraft that dates to the earliest
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would hold into the early nineteent
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technology, transportation, and com
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age had joined the Religious Societ
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Philadelphians lived in the city’
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“and many boats, which are useful
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Quaker merchant Thomas Masters purc
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INDUSTRY INVENTORS Manufacturers in
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Quaker upbringing. Known as the “
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MAKING A CASE FOR AMERICAN MANUFACT
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up cotton manufacturing operations
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After receiving a patent for the en
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The Globe Mill on the Cohocksink Cr
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@ Opposite: Detail from 1849 map sh
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of the town’s total population. S
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On a positive note, a group of Fran
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factories with a powerful energy so
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and flagship for Commodore Matthew
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@ Left: Penn Steam Engine & Boiler
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Garrett & Eastwick Locomotive Works
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seen. The episode brought Hagner co
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United States, the nation’s de-fa
Page 61 and 62: The turn of the twentieth century p
Page 63 and 64: in various categories at the Centen
Page 65 and 66: makers, 20 stove manufacturers, 12
Page 67 and 68: and lace, in which Kensington manuf
Page 69 and 70: through exploitation of their worke
Page 71 and 72: @ Left: Yard locomotives at Midvale
Page 73 and 74: among the largest in the world at t
Page 75 and 76: factory nearby. This became the lar
Page 77 and 78: she writes of the sad circumstances
Page 79 and 80: @ Clockwise, starting from the top:
Page 81 and 82: BEER AND TOBACCO Beer making contin
Page 83 and 84: MILK AND ICE CREAM Like any major c
Page 85 and 86: the Philadelphia Phillies. Located
Page 87 and 88: and a half later from a city of man
Page 89 and 90: After major cutbacks in the auto in
Page 91 and 92: into countless lunchboxes throughou
Page 93 and 94: hangar space in 1980 at Northeast P
Page 95 and 96: is the nation’s largest manufactu
Page 97 and 98: fuel for local industries, current
Page 99 and 100: centralize operations in the buildi
Page 101 and 102: BOOKS AND ARTICLES Bridenbaugh, Car
Page 103 and 104: Sutcliffe, Andrea J. Steam: The Unt
Page 105 and 106: Penrose, Bartholomew & Thomas shipy
Page 107 and 108: PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA H
Page 109 and 110: @ Left: An early Kingsbury advertis
Page 111: PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA 1
Page 115 and 116: packaging and shipping; and nondest
Page 117 and 118: Another step in product advancement
Page 119 and 120: PHILLY CASE From the basement of a
Page 121 and 122: Under Yost’s direction, The Rowla
Page 123 and 124: The story of Tioga Pipe is a classi
Page 125 and 126: neighborhood. The increased product
Page 127 and 128: Humphrys is one of the oldest manuf
Page 129 and 130: The Doherty brothers realized, to s
Page 131 and 132: Centrally located off the Pennsylva
Page 133 and 134: Jersey and Delaware. Outgrowing the
Page 135 and 136: Philadelphia is famous for its appr
Page 137 and 138: injection molded plastic to enter t
Page 139 and 140: had expanded from smaller pieces fo
Page 141 and 142: for many years and they know the fi
Page 143 and 144: furnace as well as a custom flame h
Page 145 and 146: and Salmon Streets. The company wou
Page 147 and 148: The company capitalized on the stra
Page 149 and 150: discharges. The supercapacitors are
Page 151 and 152: products that are custom designed t
Page 153 and 154: Today manufacturing matters, now mo
Page 155: LEADERSHIP SPONSORS Historical Publ
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In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

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